Edward Rowe Snow waited for just the right moment to throw the dame out of the aeroplane . It was December 1945 , and Snow had finally nonplus postwar clearance to resume his air drops of gift parcel along the New England coastline . With a pilot and a rented aircraft , Snow would lean out of the plane in full Santa Claus regalia , beard blowing in the wind , and flip toys , toiletry , and coffee to the families occupying the beacon light below .
At Cuttyhunk Island off the coast of Massachusetts , Snow and his pilot buzz lighthouse at f number of 70 to 90 miles per 60 minutes . When he was positioned over the Ponsart family ’s holding , he degenerate a package . unbeknown to him , it land straight on a atomic pile of rock , smashingthe contents and the skirt inside to pieces . Seamond Ponsart , the 5 - class - old girl who was the intended recipient role , ran out and saw the doll had not survived the impact .
Snow would regress the following year with a rented helicopter , lower himself to the ground and handing another dolly directly to Ponsart . Along with a few smashed fences and skylight , it was a rare young woman for the man who was carrying on the mantle of what lighthouse steward and disjunct Coast Guard employees dubbed the Flying Santa , pallbearer of gifts to the most remote places across the coast .
admirer of Flying Santa
It was floatplane airplane pilot William Wincapaw who first took trajectory in a red case . Living on the Maine slide in the twenties , Wincapaw frequently enchant sick or bruise islanders to the mainland . Sometimes forced to fly in less than ideal condition , he used beacon light to keep himself orientated .
“ Back in the early days of aviation , they did n’t have the avionics or technical equipment they have now , ” Brian Tague , a historian for the Friends of Flying Santa smart set , tellsmental_floss . “ In the evening , you ’d just see these flashes from the pharos . ”
Wincapaw got to be intimate these custodian , who often had families but made only irregular visits into town for supply . The holiday could be a especially sad time , since gifts and other treats were n’t easily obtain . In 1929 , Wincapaw decided to bombinate the beacon around Penobscot Bay with caution packages full of tea , reading fabric , and toys .
“ It was a consummate surprise to them , ” Tague says . “ They just found these packages on the island . ”
It was n’t hard to figure out who was responsible . Wincapaw get making the drops p.a. , work his path up to91 lighthousesby 1933 . He would often don a Santa turnout , even though he would rarely be visible from the land . ( “ It probably just got him in the climate , ” Tague says . ) With the outbreak of World War II , he start to tag his plane with the phrase “ Christmas Seal Plane ” to nullify being mistaken for an foeman trade . When he left for workplace in South America , his 16 - year - old Logos , Bill Jr. , became one of the youthful pilots in Massachusetts to earn his license . With Edward Snow , who was a teacher at Paul ’s schooltime , the Flying Santa deputation continued in William ’s absence .
In 1947 , when Wincapaw suffer a fatal mettle attack during a non - holiday flight of steps , the duties fell exclusively on Snow ’s shoulders . ineffectual to fly himself , he would hire pilots to make the drops from Maine to Long Island while he ride as a passenger . Leaning out , his faux face fungus would sometimes fellate off his face from the winds . Occasionally , packages would smash car window ; for the most part , Snow would get back ego - addressed stomp envelopes he left in the corner that reported the items were received safely .
“ Snow had a huge interest group in lighthouses , ” Tague tell . “ He had the resources to charter planes and put packages together . ”
Snow tolerate all the expenses of his Santa runs , and the household lived frugally to start the expense . “ We always had piles of stuff around the house waiting to be bundled , ” his daughter , Dolly Snow Bicknell , hark back . An only child , she become with her parents on the flights , which she enunciate were “ rocky , rough , and scary”—the plane flew low and dull to ensure an accurate delivery . By the seventies , Snow ’s efforts were being cut back by new Federal Aviation Administration regulations that prohibited low - altitude flights . To get around it , he resurrected the melodic theme of using a helicopter to make landing and dispense presents in person .
Snow drop dead in 1982 . He had been making the Santa streamlet since 1936 .
Tague got involved in 1991,when his lighthouse picture taking workplace catch the care of the Flying Santa program ’s primary supporter , the Hull Lifesaving Museum in Hull , Massachusetts . “ I think it would be a one - time thing , ” he says of ride along with the fender hired by the Museum .
It was n’t . Every year , Tague helps format a squad of helicopter pilots and Santas to take 300 - Roman mile treks along the East Coast and around New England . While modern lighthouses are chiefly automated , the Coast Guard utilize 100 of families in outposts for boat stations , sustentation , search and rescue , and other try . Tague estimates they reach around 950 children with their schedule stops .
The gifts are typically bought with money from fundraisers arranged under the Friends of Flying Santa , a Hull branch program , and are enclose and pronounce with a child ’s name that ’s accumulate in forward motion before the copter solid ground . The packages have contained stuffed creature , commemorative Santa flight keepsake , Irish potato bit , endowment cards , and chewing gum . Santa will suffer with upwards of 400 kids and pose for a picture before climb back on plank .
“ We still make two air drops , ” Tague say . “ One to the Hospital Point beacon light in Massachusetts , and one to the Coast Guard admiral , where there ’s no place to land . ”
For kids who would otherwise miss out on a lot of vacation festivities , the Flying Santas continue to provide a welcome reminder of seasonal spirit . In 2003 , Tague was even able-bodied to track down Seamond Ponsart , the charwoman who had seen Santa land on the island with a dame for her in 1946 , in New Orleans . He take in the retired person to come on display panel for a round of gift drop - offs .
“ She get a opportunity to return to her childhood dwelling house , ” Tague recall . “ She was thrilled to be a part of fork up toy to a unexampled propagation of kids . It was something that had stayed with her throughout her entire life . ”
